What is a tiered lesson?
Many of us have heard the term, “tiered lesson,” as the differentiation movement has taken center stage as a means of meeting the needs of all students in the classroom. A tiered lesson is a differentiation strategy that addresses a particular standard, key concept, and generalization, but allows several pathways for students to arrive at an understanding of these components, based on the students interests, readiness, or learning profiles. If I teach a tiered lesson, am I meeting the needs of gifted students? It depends. When the tiered lesson addresses the students readiness to interact with a particular topic/skill/idea, there is a good chance that the needs of the gifted students will be met. A lesson tiered by readiness level implies that the teacher has a good understanding of the students ability levels with respect to the lesson and has designed the tiers to meet those needs. You might think of a wedding cake with tiers of varying sizes. Many examples of lessons tiered in readi
